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Steve and Jeri Tamayo both decided to dedicate their lives as lay missionaries in the mid 1970’s. They met in the mission field and were married in 1982. As they found they were unable to have children of their own, they adopted one son, Sung Min, whom they raised while continuing their lives of service and mission. In the late 1980’s they decided to volunteer as teachers and dorm parents for an international language program for teens in Seoul, Korea. There they taught and nurtured more than 100 youth, instructing them not only academically but also spiritually. They spent several years there and they gained a reputation as teachers who really cared deeply about the kids under their supervision, treating them as if they were their own children.

In 2002, Steve and Jeri returned to the United States and promptly began a private education program for their own son and a few friends and related children. Their reputation as outstanding educators in Korea followed them to America and, one by one, parents contacted them, asking them to include THEIR children in the program. This continued until it became clear that the Tamayo’s had unpredictably created their own private education program for teens. The number of students in the program has grown each year. Last year they taught and nurtured more than 50 youth, using certified Home School curriculums from which each one could graduate with an accredited High School diploma. This program has been a 24/7 educational and nurturing experience for the youth that they have cared for and that it has been far more than academic in nature. The teenagers learn virtues, faith in God, respect, self-discipline, honesty, service to humanity, and the importance of saving their purity of youth until marriage. Over the years, many teenagers have been totally transformed by Steve and Jeri and their program and many have graduated and gone on to become young leaders and role models in their own right. Many families are greatly indebted to Steve and Jeri for helping them to raise and nurture teenagers who were in danger of being caught up in some of the negative trends affecting the youth of today.


The incredible amount of time they spend counseling and investing into each student has allowed them to grow up to become great young men and women. This education has also emphasized staying away from all types of alcohol and drugs, and most importantly finding and fulfilling purpose in their lives. Their virtue is recognized internationally, as parents call them nearly every week, from all over the nation and world, wanting to know if the Tamayo’s have room for “one more”. All this they have done with no pay, and no retirement fund, only the food they eat and the clothes on their back, making it their life mission to save the lives of young people. Their reward is in knowing that they are helping God take care of His children.